


The M35 Needs Some Friendship Cells

by themoonowl



Series: A Real Hero [3]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: As you do, Colonist (Mass Effect), Engineers, F/M, Geth, Male-Female Friendship, Mass Effect 1, Quarians, Team Bonding, Technobabble, War Hero (Mass Effect), bonding by fixing things in the middle of the night, but actually researched
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2020-07-10 02:50:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19898647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themoonowl/pseuds/themoonowl
Summary: Samed is in the middle of fixing some of the damage he did to the Mako on Solcrum. He is joined by a crew member that's equally (if not more!) interested in tinkering with things as he is.





	The M35 Needs Some Friendship Cells

Omni-tool flashlight engaged, a cluster of wires stood before Samed, everything appearing to work in decent order. Initiating a scan sequence, he ran his omni-tool-lit hand over the entire thing—the data that returned indicated some kind of trouble with some of the fuel cells. It figured. The hot temperatures on Solcrum and his shitty driving—of course the hydrogen cells would be damaged. 

He turned to the omni-gel canister next to the Mako and— a pistol’s click. Reflexively he reached for his weapon— and grasped nothing. He wore civilian garb— _ crap _ . He still had an omni-tool though. Turning the flashlight on, he pointed it into the direction of the sound, prompting an audible and slightly robotic sounding “Ah!” from the intruder and the clunk of a dropped gun.

“Tali?” he turned off the light, “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be asleep?”

A silent “Yes” left her and she crouched to pick up her dropped pistol.

“Then what are you doing in the cargo-hold?”

“I could ask the same thing about you, Shepard. I thought you were an intruder!”

He raised an eyebrow at her and folded his arms. "I don't think the Normandy can be boarded that easily."

"I suppose not…" she hung her head.

“Anyway, I couldn't sleep," Samed started. "Remember how I flipped the Mako over on our last mission?” he unwound the canister’s heavy hatch. “Some of the fuel cells got damaged.”

“Oh, I can help with that!” Though Tali stood behind him, the patter of almost-bouncing feet could be heard. Or whatever it was that the quarians had. “Actually… That’s why I came here.”

“You wanted to fix the Mako? What, are the Normandy’s engines too quiet again?”

“No, no. It’s just… I am fascinated by that little thing! I haven’t had the chance to really get a feel of its inner workings.”

Samed smiled at the young quarian. It was almost like he saw himself some thirteen-fourteen years ago whenever some new model would arrive in his father’s shop. Though she wore a mask, Tali’s eyes were lit with anticipation at his answer.

“Alright. What do you know about fuel cells, do your people use them? I know the tech is at least a hundred years old.”

“Not on all of the ships, just the more advanced ones. Their waste product is water—a valuable commodity on the flotilla.”

“Have you worked with some, repaired them?”

“I have. I am afraid omni-gel won’t fix them completely, however. You need to…” Tali walked over to the opened engine and after examining each cell closely, she plucked one with her three fingers. “Can you hand me some of the gel, Shepard?”

“I sure hope you know what you’re doing," he filled a syringe with the gooey stuff. 

“Relax. I’ve done this a thousand times.” She twisted slightly the small cylinder, making an opening barely the size of a nail. “Drop two drops into the hole. Hurry!” Samed did as she asked and she quickly twisted it closed just as it released a small hiss.

Putting the syringe aside, he activated his omni-tool’s scan function and ran his hand over the supposedly repaired object. The report said that it was working with maximum efficiency. “Good job, Tali!”

“You see, with faulty cells, it’s usually the liquid inside them that’s gotten bad. Most throw them away after an unsuccessful fix, but not my people.”

"Didn't know. This could save us a lot of credits."

"It is risky though. I nearly burned my fingers off the first few times."

"You'll help me do this then. Could always use a second pair of hands."

Tali nodded. "It really is a shame that humans only have two hands." It was difficult to tell, but there was definitely a wide grin under her mask.

"Very funny. Wanna do the rest?"

The engineering duo spent the next hour checking every power cell and repairing it using Tali's method. Time passed relatively quickly as Tali recalled stories from the Fleet and Samed from his childhood on Mindoir. As the last power cell was repaired and placed back, Tali became suspiciously quiet. And then finally spoke.

"Commander, may I ask for you a favour?

"Sure."

"The data you took from those geth control nodes… The information you uploaded to Alliance control? I want a copy of it."

"You want to bring the data to the Migrant Fleet."

"Those files have information that could be vital to our efforts to understand the geth. It could be the key to helping us reclaim our homeland!"

"And you'd use it to destroy the geth."

The quarian lowered her head and sighed. "The geth are my people's enemy! They're  _ your _ enemy Shepard, how can you—"

"If the geth are sentient—"

"We don't know if they're sentient or not! That is why we need the data!" Tali folded her arms. "I don't expect someone outside of the flotilla to understand."

"I do understand. I understand that anger very well." Tali slightly lifted her head. "I let it go through me and consume me. And it didn't do me any good." After a short pause to assess the young quarian's reaction, Samed continued. "You probably know that Batarian slavers killed my parents."

"I— I did not know that."

"I was about your age. Maybe younger. I was furious. Asked the Alliance soldiers that came to help for a gun so I could… well. But they didn't. So I enlisted. And then served in the Blitz—another fight against Batarian slavers. And you know what I saw?"

"What?"

"It's still off-record but there were batarians fighting alongside my team. A small group of rebels learned about the attack and came to help."

"Why are they off the record?"

"They were killed. All of them."

"Oh."

"I was a lot better by then, I wasn't as angry anymore. But if I remained the same way I was when I left Mindoir—if I let my anger consume me… I never would've seen the potential for unity."

"But the geth aren't living creatures! If anything, they allied with Saren! You can't compare my people's situation to yours, they're not the same!"

"You're right, I can't. I'm just saying. You can either turn that anger into something productive—or you can let it win."

Tali's eyebrows knit together underneath her mask. Samed activated his omni-tool and started to upload the data he gathered about the geth to Tali's personal account.

"There. The data's yours."

"I… Thank you commander. My people—I—owe you a great debt. One I can never repay."

"Don't worry about it Tali."

"The only thing I can offer in return is my solemn promise that I will stay with you until Saren and his geth armies are defeated."

"I never wanted anything more." Samed smiled at the young quarian. "You should go back to sleep. You've more than earned it. And make sure to tell Adams about the fuel cells fix tomorrow."

"Will do, Shepard!"


End file.
